| Product: |
video.google.com |
| Date: |
09/12/06 (186 review reads) |
| Rating: |
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Advantages: A Fun experience.
Disadvantages: Some weaker videos, though the good ones more than make up for it.
I discovered this site quite by chance at a friends house, and they thought it would bring me out of a bleak mood and make me laugh. It's a side shoot of Google, and when you go into Google, you have a link that takes you into the other sites and features of Google, choose the Video link, and away you go, off into a journey of no return, where strange things happen and the world looks funny. Google videos is more than just funny videos though, and covers all kinds of areas that may interest the public. Let's break it down a little and try and help you see what I saw, and make the most of an experience that really is great fun.
At first, I was a little overwhelmed by the choice of Videos. There are thousands, so how does one decide where to start ? A good start for me was the Top 100 section, which is based on viewers votes. If you watch a video, then rate it because in doing this, you are helping the best ones to stay at the very top. Some of the top 100 are funny, but you need to scout through them to find the really good ones.
If you want a more specific search, then going into an area of interest gives you a search at the bottom of the screen, and here I find the Comedy section one of the best on the net. I compared it to sites like youtube, and I really do believe that the layout of the Google videos is much better. The search facility makes it easy to find videos that interest you. For example, I love the animal ones and typed in the word Hamster. What it came back with was several about Hamsters, and I followed this through with other creatures great and small and enjoyed my viewing. One of the funniest areas of the site was when I put in a search in the comedy area of 'Bush' and what it brought back was amazing. There is a particular favourite of mine called the Bush Pilot, and this was made by a German and is about the little man that lives in Bush's brain and controls his movements and speech. It really is a laugh. Another shows the relationship between Bush and Blair in song, and this is one that I have downloaded and watch when I want to be cheered up.
Music
If music interests you, then the site has a good selection of music videos, although here I feel that Youtube are better. All kinds of genres of music are covered and the videos are of good quality, and very watchable.
Movies
Want to get an idea about what movies are out there ? This area gives trailers of movies, and is interesting. There are all kinds of bits and pieces for film buffs in this area. For example, typing in a topical word like 'Bond' brought up pages and pages of footage.
Sport
This is an area that doesn't interest me much, although even here some of the videos are interesting ones, and one particularly interested me of a young girl playing catch. It wasn't the content of the video footage itself, but the idea that this was a black and white film created in 1948 and what astounded me was the quality of the uploaded video.
Animation
This area of the site is a super area to visit with the kids, and has cartoons of all kinds, as well as showing off the technological wonders of creating animated film. There are some pretty wild and wonderful items here.
TV shows
This is for those people that like TV programs. There is one in particular here where Coronation Street is given the Godfather treatment although it didn't impress me much. Of all the areas of the site, this is probably one of the weakest.
If you press the button that says more, there really is a wide selection of genres of video available from documentary, which has some really good footage to adverts. I love the Tango adverts and by going into the advert section and typing in a search, these are easily accessed. Education, Nature, News, Religious and many other types of Video are there at your fingertips, but beware – the site is addictive, and sometimes my housework gets neglected in favour of watching what's new on the site.
Getting the most of Google Videos.
It took me a while to understand how to get the best out of the site, but now I have discovered the Google Video player, my experience is enhanced because having this tool means that if I find that video that really does make enjoyable watching, instead of having to search for it amongst thousands on the site every time I want to share it with a friend, I can download the videos and can access each of my favourites from my desktop and this does make the experience a full one. The download is free and the downloads I chose were free also and take only minutes. Opening them is simple and they are instantly accessible to me when I want to watch them. There are some real classics out there and very cleverly made as well.
I thoroughly recommend this site. It is for ever developing, and producing some really good moments of entertainment. When there is nothing on the television, you could do worse than passing a bit of time watching these good quality videos, although the advantage of having the player comes into its own by allowing you to watch them full screen, so your computer becomes a television in its own right.
Great site, great content.
Rachel
Summary: A fun way to pass time,
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